Fox To Call For Changed Immigrant Work Status

MEXICO CITY — The government plans to urge the Bush administration to change U.S. immigration policy to allow far more Mexicans to enter the United States legally and give a new legal status to those now working there illegally.

The proposals, still tentative, constitute the first test for a pledge of better cross-border relations--in particular on immigration--adopted by President Bush and President Vicente Fox at an effusive summit meeting in Fox's hometown of San Cristobal on Feb. 16.

Fox's ideas will be presented to U.S. officials at a high-level meeting Wednesday in Washington, the first of what is expected to be a series of negotiations in pursuit of an improved immigration relationship. In a sign of the importance of this goal, Bush has assigned Secretary of State Colin Powell and Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft to represent the United States, and Fox has assigned Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda and Interior Minister Santiago Creel.

Castaneda said Mexico has four main areas of concern: "regularizing" conditions for illegal workers; improving safety for Mexicans crossing the border, who face dangers from dehydration to vigilantes; raising the number of permanent visas the United States allots to Mexico; and creating a guest worker program that would ensure decent working conditions.

"We are not saying that we want all the rights to become available to Mexicans overnight," Castaneda said. "It is not all or nothing."

Mexican officials said Fox wants to focus on step-by-step, practical improvements in the lives of Mexican immigrants in the United States, such as the ability to get a driver's license, rent an apartment or live without fear of expulsion by U.S. authorities.

In an interview, Fox stressed that he is not necessarily seeking permanent residency or U.S. citizenship for these people, just a status that allows them to remain legally in the United States for a certain time to work and to enjoy other legal rights and protections.

"Their jobs must be recognized, must be legalized," he said. "And this does not have anything to do with them becoming Americans. Maybe they don't even want to become Americans. They just want to work."

Fox's approach marks a sharp departure for the Mexican government. In the past, it has said illegal immigration is a response to the economic situation in Mexico and in the United States--and is largely Washington's problem.

But Fox has promised to be a leader of the people in Mexico and of Mexicans living in the United States.

Any plan emerging from the negotiations to change the legal status of undocumented workers would need approval in Congress, where there is resistance to more relaxed immigration laws.